Los Angeles Marijuana Clinic Blog

Medical Marijuana Clinics Face Crackdown

Federal agents trailed Sparky Rose as he drove a Porsche Carrera convertible to his Los Angeles marijuana clinics. Under California law, Los Angeles marijuana clinics are supposed to dispense marijuana just too seriously ill people and clinic owners are to get only “sensible recompense.” But to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the sports car suggested that Rose might be theft big money from his purportedly nonprofit clinic, New Remedies Cooperative.
Rose was under arrest in October and accused of illegal drug trafficking - charges he denies. According to court papers, an investigation turned up records showing $2.3 million was deposited in a New Remedies bank account over eight months starting in December 2005, and Rose wrote himself weekly checks of $9,600.
California was the first of 12 states to allow the sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes, mainly pain control, and is regarded as having the loosest regulations. Oversight is lax and there are few specific rule for buyers and sellers of a drug still illegal under federal law.
Who can open a clinic, what constitutes reasonable compensation and who can grow and supply marijuana are all open to broad interpretation - factors that have helped fuel a surge in new clinics, to about 400 statewide. Los Angeles alone has about 100. Oakland, Santa Rosa and even famously permissive West Hollywood are among cities that have imposed moratoriums on new clinics amid concerns owners and buyers are abusing the law. Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton has called for a similar moratorium in his city. The DEA also has taken notice, embarking on a stepped-up effort targeting clinics run by people who appear to flout the reasonable compensation provision.
Federal officials raided 11 Los Angeles marijuana clinics in just one day in January, the largest such crackdown. They returned to one of the clinics in West Hollywood this past Wednesday, breaking down a door and seizing additional records.
DEA spokeswoman Sarah Pullen said authorities chose clinics that were making big money, had become hot spots for crime or were part of large franchises. The raided clinics on average raked in $20,000 in profits each day, she said. Many Los Angeles marijuana clinics were buying pot wholesale from street dealers and reselling it for twice the roughly $100-an-ounce black-market rate, Pullen said. “It’s become something we can’t ignore,” she said.
Investigation is ongoing and has yet to produce any arrests or charges. Some Los Angeles marijuana clinics have remained closed while others reopened. West Hollywood City Councilman Jeff Prang said the federal government should leave it to local governments to monitor and regulate marijuana dispensaries that provide relief for those suffering from cancer, Parkinson’s, AIDS and other debilitating diseases. “It’s a real sad day for the DEA if these type of facilities are that high on the list of priorities,” he said.
Police, Los Angeles Marijuana clinics owners, activists and legislators - even the author of the law - can’t say for sure how much money clinic owners can legally earn. “A profit is in the eye of the beholder,” said Joseph David Elford, a lawyer for Americans for Safe Access, a medicinal marijuana support group. David Elford said a hands-off government approach to the clinics should boost competition, custody marijuana prices affordable for those who need it and forcing owners to limit profits. Pullen said that hasn’t happened. The author of the 2003 law, then-state Sen. John Vasconcellos, has no problem with clinic owners earning hefty salaries as long as they provide help for ill people. He said the federal government should mellow out.